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This meme is meant to be funny, but I also feel like this is how students feel a lot of the time. Good teachers present information in several different ways to accommodate all learners and to deepen understanding of the content. Differentiation is really important in any classroom because you never know how any given student might connect with a certain topic in class. The teacher must be ready to have alternative ways to teach content.

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This quote, "Education is a journey, not a race" is something that is so important for teachers and students to know and remember. Many times growing up, I felt like I had to do better on tests than my peers, and my parents were always pushing me to get good grades. I never felt that it was about the learning, it was about earning grades. Students need to feel that what they are learning is important, and that everyone learns differently and at different rates and that is okay. There should be no way to win or to be top of the class. The goal is to learn as much as you can, not to try to get better grades than other people.

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TOPIC: Multicultural Education and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

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TOPIC: Multicultural Education and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

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This topic is something that I am very passionate about. I think that teachers should make an effort to make sure they use examples relevant to each of their students. It is important to talk about people of color and women in history, it is important for students to sing songs in different languages and from other traditions. This is especially true if the teacher has a diverse classroom. Every student should feel that the identities they bring to the classroom are valued, important, acknowledged, and celebrated.

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Academic language has 4 parts, Function, Vocabulary, Syntax, and Discourse. I did not know what any of this was until this class. This topic has been particularly confusing to me but I am beginning to make sense of it. I think that Academic Language is so confusing to identify because it is something that is usually built into lessons subconsciously, until you know what it is and then you start doing it on purpose. Vocabulary is easy to identify, but the others are not so easy in music. Although it can be confusing, it is essential to any lesson in any content area.

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Unit planning was something that I did not really know existed until this class! I only knew about individual lesson plans. Unit planning, while it can be tedious and a lot of work, I think it will be a very useful and important tool to prepare for teaching. After doing unit planning is much easier to make the individual lesson plans because you already have the basis for what needs to be taught. Sometimes the Content, Process, Product can be confusing as well as some of the academic language pieces, but unit planning helped me to understand these pieces more.

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TOPIC: Integrating technology into the classroom

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TOPIC: Integrating technology into the classroom

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Integrating technology in the classroom felt like a tedious task that would not be relevant in a music classroom. After learning about all of the platforms in which a teacher can use technology in the classroom, I think that it is definitely the most useful in a quizzing or testing situation. There are many ways that music students can use technology whether that be garage band for recording music, finale for composing music, or simply socrative or plickers for quizzing. I think that technology can be an every day thing in a classroom such as a warm up question or exit ticket every day.

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In a few of our readings in ED 352 we talked about multicultural education and culturally responsible teaching. Included in this is the fact that the amount of teachers of color is highly disproportionate to the number of students of color in most schools in America. This article highlights some of the key issues regarding diversity in schools. This article talks about how some school districts in Connecticut, Washington, and Texas are streamlining interview processes in order to hire more teachers of color to match the diversity of the students at the school. The districts are saying that if they interview a candidate of color, and they believe that candidate is a good fit, they will hire them on the spot. I think that this is a great idea because students of color need more examples and role models of people that are like them. It is unfair to students socially and academically if they are only taught by white people.

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Not every school considers diversity an essential even though a business case can be made for it. At the very least, a diverse workforce leads to employee innovation, increased productivity and a positive reputation.

The following districts recognize the benefits of a diverse workforce and have made it a priority. Take a look at some of their practices.

By adopting some of their strategies, and tweaking or enhancing them, you may enrich the teacher-student experience at your district.

Meriden Public Schools, Meriden, Connecticut

8,600 students (67 percent Hispanic or black)

675 teachers (5 percent Hispanic or black)

To increase diversity within its teacher ranks, the district practices "on-the-spot" hiring of minority candidates, Superintendent Mark Benigni says.

"If we meet a minority candidate who we think is good for the district, we're going to hire them," he says. "We fast-track the interviewing process. If we wait for the school team to interview them and return information to the administration, we've lost the candidate."

Five years ago, the district created two programs designed to recruit people of color: the teacher developer program and the teacher support program.

The development program attracts certified teachers for their first job. They're offered a position as a permanent substitute teacher-which includes assisting other classroom teachers-at $500 a week and are guaranteed one interview with the district, Benigni says.

Support program participants are undergraduates who apply for a substitute certificate. They're paid $75 per day to work with the district's teachers and receive authentic classroom experience.

"We can give them on-site experience and make them a more viable candidate in the future," says Benigni.

The program supports nearly 30 participants and has enabled the district to shrink its diversity gap by hiring up to four minority candidates per year.

Highline School District, Burien, Washington

20,000 students (75 percent black, Hispanic and Asian)

1,350 teachers (majority white)

Two years ago, human resources created a workforce development team tasked with recruiting and retaining teachers of color, says Steve Grubb, chief talent officer at Highline. A state grant provides the district's bilingual tutors with tuition assistance to pursue a teaching degree.

Most of the 15 graduates this year are people of color who-surprisingly-are not required to teach in the district after graduation. Likewise, a teaching academy was developed at one high school to attract students to teaching careers.

"It's a mistake to think we're going to diversify a school district in the Northwest by finding diverse candidates in other states and transplant them here," Grubb says. "We need homegrown strategies that build on the diversity that exists in our district and region."

McKinney ISD, McKinney, Texas

25,000 students (nearly half Hispanic, black or Asian)

1,670 teachers (80 percent white)

The district created a committee to encourage principals to seek diverse candidates. Administrators of color also go on recruiting trips. The committee supports two subcommittees-one for recruitment and selection, and the other for retention and staff development.

"We always strive to have our teaching ranks reflect our community and student body," says Tamira Griffin, the district's assistant superintendent and chief HR officer. "We keep that topic at the forefront of our principals' minds."

The district celebrates diversity as well, with several schools named after minority community leaders whose accomplishments are discussed in classrooms and published in newsletters. Teachers bring in objects from their native countries and discuss them with students, emphasizing the importance of diversity.

Teachers of color are also featured in a video promoting the district.

"All these things bring richness to the mix and conversation," says Griffin. "We all come from a different place and contribute in a great and mighty way in that overall conversation."
Carol Patton is a Las Vegas-based writer who specializes in human resources issues.

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Strategies for building a diverse school district

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Not every school considers diversity an essential even though a business case can be made for it. At the very least, a diverse workforce leads to employee innovation, increased productivity and a positive reputation. The following districts recognize the benefits of a diverse workforce and have made it a priority.